In Haddonfield, taking on challenges much larger than lacrosse

A month after a racist insult prompted Haddonfield to cut short the winning season of its high school boys' lacrosse team, people with differing views of the controversy have found a bit of common ground.

They agree that justice ought to be done.

They disagree about for whom: The black female runner who witnesses said was the target of the slur or the 40 members of the predominantly white lacrosse team, who missed their chance to compete for a state championship after one of them called the young woman the N-word.

"The past few weeks have given our community a lesson on taking a hard look at ourselves," Haddonfield School Board President Adam Sangillo said last Friday.

The board president also said that new initiatives arising out of the civic conversation that's been jump-started by the controversy will include collaborations with the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Center for Access at Rowan University and will aim to "address any issues surrounding diversity and race relations."

But there's disagreement about what the "hard look" Sangillo described may reveal.

Some lacrosse parents and boosters characterize the players as fiercely loyal and unfairly maligned young men whose hopes for victory or college scholarships have been dashed by a dastardly media mob and a school district with an overly sensitive agenda.

Team boosters question the intent, timing, scope, duration, and conclusion  of the district's state-prescribed investigation, which was unable to identify the individual player and so held the entire team responsible, leading to the eleventh-hour cancellation of the playing season.

Parents want their boys' names cleared. They want an apology (not that anyone on the team has publicly apologized — much less, publicly acknowledged responsibility — for the slur).

And while some lacrosse supporters have expressed genuine concern for the actual victim, who attends Sterling Regional High School, others have insinuated that she misheard or misunderstood what (if anything) was said to her — or may have made the whole thing up.

I find that notion improbable, if not preposterous. Outside some folks in the tight-knit circles of Haddonfield sports, so do many others.

They see their community as having too long existed in a bubble. Or on an island: The borough and its schools are 90 percent white, in a county and a state where minorities make up about 40 percent of the population. The number of faculty members of color in the district is, and has always been,  minuscule.

One result, some residents say, is an insular culture where racist or homophobic bullying is sometimes tolerated, if not enabled, and where students are poorly prepared to pursue higher education and compete for careers in a multiracial, multicultural world.

"Not only does racial segregation in public schools disadvantage black and Latino children — white children are disadvantaged as well," said Gary Stein, a retired state Supreme Court justice and one of the plaintiffs in a recent lawsuit contending that New Jersey has violated its constitutional ban on segregated public education.

The lawsuit cites enrollment and test-score data from urban and suburban communities in northern and central New Jersey. But Stein said racial and economic segregation across the state "deprives students of the opportunity to learn alongside people of different backgrounds, and inhibits preparation for the world ahead."

In Haddonfield, some residents are getting involved in grassroots efforts to use the controversy as a catalyst for change.

"I think the incident opened the community's eyes to a bigger picture," said Lara Barrett, an organizer of a "meet-up" that drew about 15 people — including the school board president — to a downtown coffee shop last month.

The group also has inspired a book club for parents who want to learn more about race-related issues.

"After all the arguing and debating and the negative aspects, we're having a broader conversation than we would if this horrible thing hadn't happened," Barrett said.

Educational presentations, community events, and other activities are under discussion.

"It's awful that the incident has upset the town so much," Barrett said. "But there are people trying to make sure that something good comes from it."

Meanwhile, the Haddonfield Human Relations Commission will work with the school district and the borough to "help build positive behavior within the community," said chairwoman Ellen Stone.

The challenge "within the life of Haddonfield and all communities is to eliminate bias and discrimination," Stone said, adding that the commission will help educate young people and sponsor community forums "on issues of tolerance and acceptance."

On Friday, Sangillo announced that Larry Mussoline, who was hired as the district's new superintendent before the lacrosse incident, will start work on Monday, rather than on July 1 as originally planned.

Acting Superintendent David Lindenmuth, who was to have served through the month of June, left the job Friday because of a family medical matter unrelated to his decision to suspend lacrosse for the remainder of the season, Sangillo said.

The school district already has hosted diversity and racial sensitivity workshops for teachers, presented by the Camden County East Chapter of the NAACP — efforts that are surely worthwhile.

But like job training that doesn't lead to a job, diversity training won't amount to much if the faculty of the district remains predominantly white.

"The board understands the value of having a more diverse staff," said Sangillo.

While the school board "doesn't do the hiring," he said, "we want to make sure we have an inclusive pool of staff members."

All well and good. But the proof will be in the follow-up. And the way may not be easy, or smooth.

"You know this isn't over for us," lacrosse parent Tina DeVita told the school board during its May 24 meeting.

Said Sangillo: "I don't think it's over for the board, either."

Agreed.